NATION OF ISLAM PAPER`S ABDUL WALI MUHAMMAD

Abdul Wali Muhammad, editor in chief of the Nation of Islam`s newspaper, The Final Call, died Thursday night after collapsing on the jogging track at a Calumet City health club. He was 37.

Mr. Muhammad, of Harvey, was taken to St. Margaret Hospital in Hammond, suffering from a heart attack. He died shortly before 7 p.m., according to a spokeswoman for the Lake County, Ind., coroner, but the exact cause of death had not been determined.

Mr. Muhammad was credited Friday with injecting new life into the biweekly newspaper, turning it in his seven years as editor in chief into what a Nation of Islam official called the nation`s leading national black paper, one that the official said achieved circulation of some 500,000 copies last summer.

''The Final Call newspaper has experienced a rejuvenation. A great deal of that credit goes to Abdul Wali Muhammad,'' said Leonard Farrakhan Muhammad, chief of staff to Minister Louis Farrakhan, spiritual leader of the Nation of Islam.

Although rooted in the doctrine of the religion, The Final Call under Wali Muhammad also published articles of more general interest.

The current issue includes stories on deficiencies in the Head Start program and the value of the holiday Kwanzaa and a feature article on government plans to land men on Mars.

''In The Final Call we try to inspire the best in black people and give them a positive attitude,'' Mr. Muhammad told the Tribune in a 1987 interview. Cook County Commissioner Danny Davis, a friend of Mr. Muhammad`s, said,

''I don`t think that the paper was constrained to only one segment or one group of people or only people who had a certain religious or political point of view. It was more than just news.

''I just remember him as a rather refreshing guy. He was always up, seemingly very articulate, and he had a real, what I consider to be, in-depth understanding of social systems and the shape of our country.''

Born in Chicago as James Booker, Mr. Muhammad was the son of Simeon Booker, Washington bureau chief of Jet magazine. He grew up in Washington and attended Cornell, Howard and American Universities before joining the Nation of Islam in 1978.

Mr. Muhammad rose quickly to become captain of the Washington D.C. Fruit, or men, of Islam. He moved to Chicago in 1982 to begin working with the newspaper and to help administer the religion. Mr. Muhammad also served as press relations officer for Farrakhan and was an assistant minister at Mosque Maryam, 7351 S. Stony Island Ave.

In addition to his father, Mr. Muhammad is survived by his wife, Zenobia; three sons, Akmal, Luqman and Farrakhan; three daughters, Crescent, Amira and Zainab; his mother, Thelma Booker; a brother; and a sister.

Farrakhan will lead a service for him at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Mosque Maryam.